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This is not a book about one thing. It's not a 250-page dissertation on leadership, teams or motivation. Instead, it's an agenda for building organizations that can flourish in a world of diminished hopes, relentless change and ferocious competition.

This is not a book about doing better. It's not a manual for people who want to tinker at the margins. Instead, it's an impassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it—to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, organizational life, and the meaning of work.

Leaders today confront a world where the unprecedented is the norm. Wherever one looks, one sees the exceptional and the extraordinary:

Business newspapers decrying the state of capitalism.

Once-innovative companies struggling to save off senescence.

Next gen employees shunning blue chips for social start-ups.

Corporate miscreants getting pilloried in the blogosphere.

Entry barriers tumbling in what were once oligopolistic strongholds.

Hundred year-old business models being rendered irrelevant overnight.

Newbie organizations crowdsourcing their most creative work.

National governments lurching towards bankruptcy.

Investors angrily confronting greedy CEOs and complacent boards.

Newly omnipotent customers eagerly wielding their power.

Social media dramatically transforming the way human beings connect, learn and collaborate.

Obviously, there are lots of things that matter now. But in a world of fractured certainties and battered trust, some things matter more than others. While the challenges facing organizations are limitless; leadership bandwidth isn't. That's why you have to be clear about what really matters now. What are the fundamental, make-or-break issues that will determine whether your organization thrives or dives in the years ahead? Hamel identifies five issues are that are paramount: values, innovation, adaptability, passion and ideology. In doing so he presents an essential agenda for leaders everywhere who are eager to...

move from defense to offense

reverse the tide of commoditization

defeat bureaucracy

astonish their customers

foster extraordinary contribution

capture the moral high ground

outrun change

build a company that's truly fit for the future

Concise and to the point, the book will inspire you to rethink your business, your company and how you lead.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Guest review by Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com

Marc Benioff

The world is changing faster than ever. The "Social Revolution" is changing everything in business. The social, mobile and cloud technologies that are being rapidly adopted not only provide amazing new opportunities to engage with customers, but they fundamentally change the way we need to manage our companies. In his new book, What Matters Now, Gary Hamel outlines how tomorrow's successful companies must completely rethink management.

Gary Hamel, one of the world's pre-eminent business thinkers, demonstrates why last century's management theories-- developed more than a hundred years ago during the Industrial Revolution--are entirely wrong for managing today's successful organizations. He shows how yesterday's top-down bureaucratic management models designed to keep employees under control no longer work and how one-way, top-down communications are over.

We've seen how social networks like Twitter and Facebook enable wired citizens to rally crowds, gain global attention, and topple established political systems. We've seen the world change with the Arab Spring. If we don't find a better way to create more transparent, authentic and meaningful relationships with customers and employees, a Corporate Spring and a CEO Spring will be next.

Now, organizations of all sizes can access Gary's innovative ideas to bring business management into the future. Through case studies of forward-thinking companies like W.L. Gore, the company that makes Gore-Tex fabrics, Hamel illustrates the power of principles that center around autonomy and freedom, instead of command-and-control. Hamel illuminates how bold new models that encourage meritocracy--and identify the individual contributors who are actually driving innovations within an organization--will be the norm for successful companies moving forward.

This is a must-read for anyone who wants to succeed in today's world. Many fear change--after all, change is hard--but the world always spins forward and we must embrace change or the world will move on without us. Most of all, we have an incredible opportunity--as well as a responsibility-to redefine management for the next generation and transform our businesses into social enterprises that will be more competitive, more innovative and more successful than ever before possible.

Q&A with Author Gary Hamel

Author Gary Hamel

This book is different than previous books you have done. Why this book – why now? There are a variety of unprecedented changes in the business environment, change continues to accelerate, trust is shaken, and competition is fierce: there is a raft of new competitors.

Organizations are not up to challenges ahead. There are many. The right thing to do was to NOT write a book about one thing – but instead offer 5 levers – and one person's point of view of how to work those levers.

What did you find surprising in writing this book? Maybe not surprising – but a little shocking – was that despite magnitude of challenges that organizations face, including a dismal economy, most organizations are still fiddling at the margins.

A typical business book looks at companies doing something right at the moment…or companies that screw up. In times of environmental stress and change you have to challenge not only practices but principles. You must challenge fundamental assumptions about how organizations work. Frankly, I don't know of any organizations that are up to the challenges that lie ahead. This book is for people who want to get out in front; it is an agenda for people who want to lead.

Who has most influenced your thinking in the past ten to fifteen years? Kevin Kelly and his book Out of Control (it came out in 1995.) He helped us understand how social life forms on the web and how that will, and has, affected us all.

Chris Rufer, President of Morningstar, is in the book. His company has demonstrated that you can run complex organizations without any hierarchical structure. I had believed it could be true …but now know it is true.

Out of every critical issue out there now for leaders/managers/workers to focus on what is the one most people should start with? Values. Every CEO will tell you that they want to an organization that builds superior results. But is values that will get you there. Values need to be transcendental rather than venal. Look at Apple: beauty, ease of use… versus the investment banks and their short term monetary gain for a few. People are rightfully calling capitalism to account. I understand the anger people have. I laugh when a CEO says he wants a "values driven organization" because the organization already is! The question is what values are in the driver's seat already.

What do you hope readers ultimately "get" out of this book? The responsibility of any business author is to be profound and practical. I want to read things that challenge my convention…my mental models. I also like to spend time talking with CEOs and managers. Ultimately you have to build a bridge between new ideas and the everyday realities. That is my goal.

Review

An impassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it. (innovationexcellence.com, March 2012) The book is bang up to date highlights recent crises and what we can learn from them (CPO Agenda, April 2012) A thought provoking and relevant book for our time that should inspire change, even if it doesn t prescribe it. (economia.com, April 2012) An interesting and thought provoking read for HR and finance directors. (HR Magazine, April 2012) Plenty to feed those with an appetite for change. (CA Magazine, April 2012) A rarity among business books, What Matters Now has an entertaining, anecdotal style that does nothing to diminish the visionary authority with which Hamel speaks . (I: Global Intelligence for the CIO, April 2012) The book is bang up to date highlights recent crises and what we can learn from them. (CPO Agenda, April 2012) 'Probably one of the most important books you could read this year an invitation to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism. (Leadership Now, May 2012)

Top customer reviews

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"What Matters Now" is the latest (at the time of this review) book from Management Guru Gary Hamel, who authored the excellent The Future of Management. Of course, I wondered whether "What Matters Now" will be as good as his previous Future of Management. Well, in my opinion, it isn't. That doesn't make this a bad book though, it is still excellent and would recommend people (management) to read it.

What matters now consist of 5 chapters about concepts of organizations and management that Gary Hamel feel are under-appreciated and need to get more focus. They are things that matters now. The things that matter now are 1) Values, 2) Innovation, 3) Adaptability, 4) Passion, and 5) Ideology. Each of these have their own chapter in which Gary Hamel rants about the current practices and makes some recommendations about each of these things that matter.

The first chapter covers values and with this Hamel mainly focuses on ethics and contribution to the society. A key point he makes is that capitalism and contribution to society are not contradictions but go hand in hand. The second chapter talks about innovation and how companies that won't continuously innovate will not be able to survive. In innovation he also includes design and spends some time deconstructing Apple. The third chapter cover adaptability, the ability to respond to changes, where he talks about the rapidly changing environment and how companies are structures in a way to actually prevent those changes.

The last two chapters: Passion and Ideology are closer to his previous work on the future of management. Passion talks about how we need to unleash the workforce and stop controlling them but to find and create passion for what they are doing. The last chapter, Ideology, talks about the assumptions behind management and how we'll need to adopt new principles and ideology of management. This also talks about freeing people, creating self-organization, flattening the hierarchy and similar things he also mentions in his previous work on the future of management. In this chapter he gives a lot of case studies: WL Gore, Morningstar, and HCLT. Especially the Morningstar chapter is nice where he expands a bit more on his earlier HBR article "First fire all the managers".

The book, like other books from Gary Hamel, is very well written. Hamel has a strong opinion and knows how to express his opinion, though at times it felt like pure ranting. Also, he knows what he is talking about and comes with interesting examples. All of this makes it an easy and entertaining read. I still prefer his earlier "Future of Management" as I felt that was slightly better structured, but this is definitively an excellent read also. Definitively recommended.

I really enjoyed this book...although I don't think it's for everyone. It's a book that enables senior business leaders and strategists (especially) to reflect on 'what matters now'--at least from Gary's point of view. It's certainly not a 'how-to' book and does get a bit philosophical at times. For those unaware, Gary is on a mission to revamp management as we know it, and that is certainly reflected in this book. For some that will be threatening. So be it.

Gary is a deep thinker and, in my view, a great writer. Unlike others, he doesn't write to a fifth grade reading level. He's trying to raise people's sights, not pander to the lowest common denominator. The ideas in this are both broad and big. They're not all original, although a few are. The real importance is not whether the ideas are original, but rather the framework which Gary places each idea within. The three in-depth examples (starting on page 233) of how companies turned the organizational pyramid on its head are incredibly insightful and very thought-provoking.

This book isn't about incremental change, it's about helping people think through big, thorny issues. To me Gary is one part futurist, one part idealist, and one part pragmatist. This book reflects that.

Bill Wiersma, Author--The Big AHA and The Power of Professionalism (2011)

If you are satisfied with the status quo, if you like to control people and worship the command-and-control, hierarchic management model...then this book is not for you!In "What Matters Most" Gary Hamel provides, what I believe, to be the best argument regarding workplace change, leadership, management innovation and sustainability that I've ever come across in a long time. The book equips us with the tools and current myth-shattering strategies to build organizations that will be fit for the future and fit for human beings! Gary articulates incredible courage (the most important attribute of leadership in my way of thinking and lacking with other authors) in tackling our organizations' most de-humanizing and horrific qualities. For too long our orgs have been positionally led by small-minded, fear-wielding, self-serving, "bought and sold" compliance officers, spirit-diminishing gatekeepers, and "image over substance" control freaks. Today's work needs to get done by people without positional power. We need a new type of manager who is able to build a workplace environment that ellicits the best out of people...capabilities such as initiative, creativity, and passion.One highlight of the book I found most interesting/useful is Gary's construct regarding the "hierarchy of capabilities." Gary's insights are remarkable!This book is about serving the greater good, about designing workplaces that are human-friendly and not machine-like, about invigorating, engaging, growing and sustaining the soul of every employee so that employees WANT to do their best rather than HAVE to do a job. The values espoused in this book are needed more than ever.Thank you, Gary Hamel, for your imaginative genius and writing the most relevant book of the 21st Century!

Other books I would recommend as companion pieces are: "Credibility" by Kouzes and Posner and "Great by Choice" by Collins and Hansen.